Cabinets are 35 to 50 percent of an Ottawa kitchen budget. They are also the part homeowners most often misjudge, because the spread between an IKEA Sektion run and a custom shaker run from a real shop can be enormous on the same floor plan.
I've installed all three categories for two decades, and we now run our own cabinet shop. Below is what each option gives you in Ottawa, what you are physically buying, and where the cost differences are real and where they are not.
IKEA Sektion: the entry option, cabinets only
IKEA gets unfair criticism. The Sektion box is a 5/8-inch melamine particle-board carcass with cam-lock fittings. It is not the same as a custom plywood box, but for a 10-foot by 12-foot Ottawa kitchen footprint, it is a legitimate option that holds up if installed properly.
What you get (cabinets only, no install): roughly 18 to 24 lineal feet of base and upper boxes, Maximera drawer slides (Blum-equivalent, soft-close standard), Utrusta hinges, and a choice of door fronts from the plain Sektion white slab up to the higher-end painted shaker fronts. The fronts you pick are the biggest single cost driver in this tier.
Then add installation by a qualified Ottawa kitchen installer who has done IKEA before, plus the fillers, panels, and crown that IKEA does not include. Those two line items push the installed IKEA kitchen well above the box-only figure, so judge it on the all-in installed scope, not the showroom price.
Where IKEA falls short
Three real limitations. First, the cabinet height is fixed at 30, 40, or 80 inches; you cannot get a 36-inch upper to match an existing soffit. Second, the depths are 15 inches or 24 inches only; no 21-inch depth for narrow homes. Third, the box ends are not finished panels (you must add a panel or order a finished-end box).
For a clean rectangular kitchen in a Kanata or Stittsville home built after 2000, none of these are deal-breakers. For a 1920s Glebe kitchen with angled walls and an 8-foot 4-inch ceiling, IKEA fights you the whole way.
Semi-custom: the mid option, cabinets only
Semi-custom comes from a manufacturing line (Cabico, Fabritec, JSI, or local equivalents) where standard sizes get adjusted in 1-inch increments. You pick door style, finish, hardware, and a few interior options like a roll-out pantry or a tray divider. Lead time is typically four to six weeks.
What changes versus IKEA: 1/2-inch plywood box construction (significantly stronger than melamine particle), full overlay or inset doors, real soft-close Blum or Salice hinges, dovetailed drawer boxes as a standard option, and any color or stain you want on solid wood or paint-grade MDF.
The lower end of this tier is a basic shaker in paint-grade MDF on a plywood box with soft-close standard. The upper end is a solid maple shaker, a custom paint color, applied panel ends, drawer organizers, and internal LED on motion. The finish level and the interior options are what move the cost inside the tier, not the box itself.
The plywood vs particle-board test
Pick up the side of an IKEA Sektion box and pick up the side of a Cabico semi-custom box. The Cabico weighs roughly 30 percent more for the same dimensions. That difference is plywood (multiple cross-laminated wood plies) versus particle (compressed sawdust with melamine skin). The plywood box holds screws better, shrugs off water damage at the toe-kick, and survives being moved during a renovation. Particle does not.
Where semi-custom is the right answer
Most mid-tier Ottawa kitchens land in semi-custom. The value-to-quality ratio is the best of the three categories for typical homes built between 1980 and 2015. You get the plywood box, the proper hardware, and the door style flexibility without paying for full custom shop labour.
Full custom: the premium option, cabinets only
Full custom is built one kitchen at a time in a real cabinet shop. Every box is sized to your wall. Every door is built to your spec. We run a custom shop in Ottawa and most of our high-end kitchens come out of it.
The base of full custom is a plywood box with 5-piece painted-maple shaker doors, Blum Tandembox soft-close slides, full overlay, applied panel ends, drawer organizers, and full crown molding on a typical 12-foot layout.
From there, the cost drivers are clear: inset doors instead of full overlay add significant labour just for the detail; exotic veneers (rift-cut white oak, walnut, ribbon mahogany), custom-stained finishes, integrated appliance panels for the fridge and dishwasher, and specialty pieces (a banquette, a hutch, a coffee station) each carry their own premium.
At the top of the range you are paying for book-matched veneer that requires sequenced sheets, hand-painted finishes, period-accurate replication of historic millwork (we do this for some Glebe and Sandy Hill homes), or ultra-premium imported door styles.
The cabinet box quality at entry custom is already excellent. The climb above that is door style, veneer, and finish work, not box construction.
Drawer hardware: where the silent quality lives
Drawer slides are the most underrated cost variable in cabinets. Cheap roller slides on a low-end semi-custom kitchen will fail in three to five years. Premium slides last 30 years.
- Epoxy-coated roller slides: the cheapest tier. Used in entry IKEA and the lowest off-brand semi-custom. Fail with weight and time.
- Side-mount ball-bearing slides (Blum, Hettich): the mid tier. Standard in real semi-custom and base IKEA Sektion. Lifetime warranty from the manufacturer.
- Undermount soft-close slides (Blum Tandem, Blum Movento): the premium tier. Standard in custom and upper-tier semi-custom. Self-closing, full-extension, hidden under the drawer.
- Tandembox or LeMans corner pull-outs: specialty assemblies, priced per unit on top of the base run.
If a quote does not specify the drawer slide brand and model, ask. A cabinet that looks identical with a budget roller slide versus a Blum undermount will look identical for the first year. Then one will start sticking and sagging.
Soft-close: standard or premium?
Soft-close on doors comes from the hinge. On drawers it comes from the slide. The two systems are independent.
Door soft-close: Blum Blumotion or Salice clip-on dampers add a small amount per hinge. A typical kitchen has 30 to 50 hinges, so across the whole kitchen it is a minor line item. There is no reason not to have it. If a quote leaves soft-close off, it is an inexpensive add, not a major upgrade.
Drawer soft-close: this is built into the slide. Blum Tandembox is soft-close standard. Cheap epoxy roller slides cannot be made soft-close. So if drawer soft-close matters to you, ask for the slide brand, not just "soft-close."
The real Ottawa decision matrix
Here is how we steer Ottawa homeowners through this choice in 2026.
Pick IKEA when: you are doing a refresh-tier kitchen, the layout is a clean rectangle, the home was built after 1995, and you are willing to live with stock cabinet heights. IKEA is also fine for rental units and basement secondary suites.
Pick semi-custom when: you are doing a mid-tier kitchen, the home is post-1980, and you want plywood box construction without full custom shop pricing. This is where most Ottawa kitchens land.
Pick full custom when: the home has odd angles or non-standard ceiling heights (most pre-1960 homes in Westboro, the Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Sandy Hill, Hintonburg), when you are doing a high-end kitchen and stock cabinets would look out of place against the rest of the finishes, or when you want a specific door style (inset, beaded inset, raised panel in a non-standard profile) that semi-custom does not offer.
Real example: same kitchen, three quotes
A 14-foot Barrhaven kitchen we quoted three ways for the same client: IKEA Sektion plus install, semi-custom Cabico shaker installed, and full custom from our shop in painted maple inset with Blum Tandembox and applied panel ends. The gap between the entry and premium options was several times over for the same footprint. The client picked semi-custom. Right answer for that house. Every option came as a detailed written breakdown so the trade-offs were visible.
What to ignore in the cabinet conversation
Brand names matter less than construction. A pricey "luxury" branded cabinet with a particle-board box is worse than a Cabico semi-custom with a plywood box that costs less. Ask about the carcass material, the slide brand, and the finish process, not the marketing name.
Door material matters less than people think. Painted MDF doors look identical to painted maple doors for the first 10 years. After that, MDF can chip at the edges if it gets wet repeatedly. For a kitchen where the doors will not be wiped down with water every day, MDF is fine.
For the full process and what's included in our fixed-price kitchen contracts, see the Ottawa kitchen renovation page. Clear, itemized line items in every proposal.
Bottom line: the cabinet decision is mostly about box construction (particle vs plywood) and drawer slide brand (epoxy roller vs Blum). Get those two right and you can ease the budget on door style without losing kitchen quality. Call 613-862-4555 if you want a fixed-price walk-through.